Talk about leaving it late in the season to make a coaching change! With just three 2.Bundesliga fixtures left this season, relegation threatened Jahn Regensburg have sacked coach Mersad Selimbegovic and brought in US-born Joe Enochs, whose most recent job was with third tier side FSV Zwickau.
After six games without a win and having slumped down to an automatic relegation berth in the second division, Regensburg have made a last-ditch coaching change with the desperate hope that former Osnabrück captain Enochs can safe them from the dreaded drop.
The 51-year-old brings a raft of experience from the third division, but now faces a mammoth task of keeping Jahn in the 2.Liga. He was sacked by Zwickau in February, but now gets the chance to don his superhero pants and save Regensburg.
“It was our goal to find a successor as soon as possible after Mersad Selimbegovic was released as head coach yesterday and in view of the upcoming home game against Hamburger SV,” Jahn CEO Hans Rothammer explained. “We are therefore pleased that we can now welcome Joe Enochs, a head coach who is suitable for the situation and competent in Regensburg.”
In terms of an uphill task, this is of a gradient even the most experienced of coaches would balk at. Enochs however remains confident saying, “During the talks, I noticed relatively quickly that this job as the new head coach, but also the club itself, suits me well. Challenging weeks await us, which I will tackle and overcome together with the team, the coaching staff and the entire club would like.”
His first task will be to take on (and hopefully beat) Hamburg on Sunday at the Jahn Stadion with anything less than three points not really a help at this desperate stage of the season.
